Saving Himalayas is as important as saving borders, says veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi

Veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Wednesday (November 26, 2025) stressed that protecting the Himalayas is as important as securing the country’s borders.

Speaking at an event on the ecological degradation of the Himalayan range and its impact on the Indian subcontinent, Mr. Joshi criticised one of the dream projects of the Narendra Modi-led Union government — the all-weather roads along the route of the Char Dham yatra in Uttarakhand. Roads are being recklessly made in the hills, he said.

This comes two months after Mr. Joshi and several other eminent personalities, including Congress MP Karan Singh, wrote to the then-Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai requesting him to review the Supreme Court’s 2021 judgement that allowed Char Dham roads to be widened beyond 5.5 metres.

The Char Dham all-weather road project involves widening the mountain roads that lead to the Char Dham temples, including the shrines at Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri. This also includes the roads in the Bhagirathi Eco Sensitive Zone (BESZ), and some roads leading to India’s border with China. In an affidavit submitted in the SC, the Ministry of Defence had said that there is an immediate need for double-laned roads to meet border security concerns in the hills.

“Its important to save borders but saving Himlayas is equally important,” Mr. Joshi said at the event, convened to suggest solutions and policy measures to mitigate the situation.

Landslide impact

RSS joint general secretary Krishna Gopal, also present at the event, hailed the contribution of Ganga activist G.D. Agarwal in highlighting the role and importance of the Himalayas. He also pointed out that recent landslides in hills have once again highlighted the importance of preserving the Himalayas.

“The landslides that occurred in last one year in which projects worth billions got washed away and hundreds were killed has highlighted the very importance of preserving Himalayas. Its already late… but still this battle is of civilisation and culture… we must learn to balance the two,” Mr. Gopal said, urging policy makers, activists, and the public to come together to save the Himalayas.

Former IAS officers Ashok Lavasa, Shashi Shekhar, and U.P. Singh also participated in the event and shared their experiences.

‘Review SC order allowing wider roads’

The organisers chalked out a road map to save the Himalayas, with the first step being an appeal to review the SC’s 2021 judgment, according to Mallika Bhanot of Ganga Ahvaan, a citizen forum based in Uttarakhand. She added that the plan would be presented to the government to formulate a separate development policy for Himalayan States, with reference to sustainability, ecology, economy, environment, culture, and technology.

Ashwani Mahajan, convener of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, the economic wing of RSS, who was also one of the organisers of the event, added that a plan would be prepared for the protection of deodar forests and for the demarcation of eco-sensitive zones along the lines of the BESZ in the upper stretches of the Himalayas to formulate a buffer zone around the glaciers.

“Eco-sensitive zones shall regulate the developmental policies in the region and help in protecting the vulnerable stretches of the Himalaya. A demand of green bonus will also be pitched which will be given to the people of the eco-sensitive zones of the Himalayan region for the ecosystem services that these regions provide,” Mr. Mahajan added.